As always, you’ll want to take this leak with yet another grain of salt, but we could be looking at the upcoming BlackBerry Storm 3. No, it wasn’t left behind at some bar by an inebriated employee. It looks like this might be from some sort of business meeting setting. You’ll also notice the documents under the guys hand are not in English.

Looking even more carefully at the snippets of text underneath the guys hand, we’re getting something with a 5.0. My guess is that’s related to the megapixel count for the camera, since it makes no sense to go with BB OS 5.0, right? You’ll also see the inclusion of an optical trackpad. The tipster also makes mention of a 3.7-inch screen, 8GB internal memory, and mobile hotspot functionality.

Personally, I’m not all that excited about the prospects of another Storm. That is unless this is a revised version of the Torch already? Is there a keyboard hiding in there somewhere?

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BlackBerry Slider phone displayed on BBLeaks.com

It seems that the boys and girls at Research in Motion have been keeping pretty busy. We’ve seen two generations of the BlackBerry Storm already, but there are still people like me who would prefer to have a physical keyboard. How are they going to appease the masses? Based on these leaked photos, it seems they’re doing it with a BlackBerry slider phone.

There’s no model number or model name attached to this just yet, but some are starting to call it the BlackBerry Storm 3. While in its closed position, it looks almost like the regular BlackBerry Storm, except there is an optical trackpad included underneath the touchscreen.

What makes this BlackBerry different than all the rest, however, is that verticaly slide-out keyboard. This gives the BlackBerry slider the same kind of form factor as the Palm Pre, except you get all of that BlackBerry-fueled addiction goodness.

Take these leaked shots with a serious grain of salt, of course, but they do look quite convincing. Should this slider indeed be the BlackBerry Storm3, it’ll likely have that BlackBerry OS 6.0 that’s got everyone talking.

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Embedded below could be the first public video ever recorded and made available on the Internet of the new BlackBerry Storm 9550, known affectionately in most circles simply as the BlackBerry Storm 2. The form factor remains the same with a large touchscreen and no keyboard, but there are a few changes.

For example, the four buttons in the bottom used to be quite separate from the screen, but now they are much more flush and integrated with the touchscreen. We also get a slightly better design and, more importantly, it appears that typing on this is easier than the first time around.

I was given the impression that RIM would abandon the SurePress “clicking” touchscreen for the Storm 2, but that seems to be making a return. Maybe they reduced the screen travel and improved its response. That is certainly one feature that separates the Storm from other touchscreen smartphones.

Source: PhoneDig

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Features and Specifications

Before we get down to the review itself, perhaps it would be apt to take a quick look at the features and specifications on this hot new smartphone. Be sure to check out the BlackBerry Storm unboxing video that I did last week if you want to see some first impressions and take a gander at what’s included with the phone.

Although the Storm 9530 is sold through CDMA-touting Telus Mobility in Canada, it’s actually a dual mode phone. While in your local area, the Storm will latch onto the Telus CDMA/EVDO network for all of your calling, texting, and data needs. If you find yourself outside of the country, you can pop a foreign SIM card in the back to gain access to GSM connectivity. Strangely, there is no Wi-Fi to be found, but you do get GPS and stereo Bluetooth.

Other features include the 3.25-inch HVGA “clicking” touchscreen display, microSD expansion slot, 624 MHz processor, 3.15 megapixel camera with flash and video, media player, 3.5mm audio jack, and the usual suite of BlackBerry apps, including push email and the Browser.

Using the On-Screen Keyboard

Unlike every other BlackBerry that came before it, the BlackBerry Storm 9530 does not have a physical keyboard at all. Instead, it completely relies on that clicking touchscreen. When you touch the touchscreen, it only highlights the item you touch. For example, touching an application icon will show you what app it is but will not load the program itself. To load the program, you “click” the screen inwards, almost giving the feel of a real button.

The same can be said about the on-screen virtual keyboard. While held in portrait mode, the keyboard shows up as either SureType or as a standard numeric keypad. For people upgrading from a Pearl, this is probably the more familiar experience. Turn the phone over to landscape mode, however, and you get a QWERTY keyboard. The cool thing is if you place your thumb on a “key”, it gets highlighted. This way, you can see if you are making mistakes before you make them, but this really slows down the typing.

In fact, I found that typing on the Storm quickly became an exercise in frustration. It could be because I very much prefer physical keyboards (though some say virtual keyboards are the wave of the future), but the touchscreen just wasn’t responsive enough. The tactile response of the clicking screen was nice, but the screen either has too much travel or it doesn’t click back up fast enough. A faster response or less travel may alleviate this issue, but it won’t fix my typos, particularly for web addresses and form entries.

Navigating Menus and the Internet

Some BlackBerry enthusiasts will load Opera Mini onto the Storm as soon as they get it, many others will continue to rely on the preloaded Browser. In either case, the online experience is pretty similar.

Scrolling through webpages with a swipe of the finger (like the iPhone) is a very gratifying experience, but the “clicking” of links was much more challenging. It was very inaccurate and would not register my clicks. I had to zoom in considerably before I achieved any acceptable level of accuracy and responsiveness.

The on-screen keyboard would appear at the right times, but there did not appear to be any quick-key or hot-kay to make it disappear. A simple hardware button (or on-screen equivalent) for this purpose would have been greatly appreciated. Perhaps the “mute” button at the top of the phone could have been used for this.

Trying to Be All Things to All People

The BlackBerry Storm 9530, shown here in its Telus Mobility guise but available through Bell and Verizon as well, really is trying to be all things to all people.

On the one hand, it’s trying to be hip and stylish to entice iPhone users to convert to the way of the Berry, but the interface is not nearly as sleek and intuitive as its Cupertino counterpart. On the other hand, diehard BlackBerry users may find the touchscreen to be more trouble than it is worth. The increased real estate is nice, but the virtual keyboard doesn’t cut the fast-firing ways of email junkies.

Research in Motion took a bold step (no pun intended) in creating the Storm. The clicking touchscreen is probably the best tactile feedback system I’ve seen to date. Vibration and sound just aren’t the same as a tactile click. That said, the Storm still needs some serious UI tweaks and an improved keyboard response in some way. It’ll add some bulk, but perhaps a BlackBerry Storm Slider could be the best solution for all parties involved. For now, I can’t recommend the Storm.

The post REVIEW – BlackBerry Storm 9530 Smartphone from Telus Mobility appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Before I get down to the nitty-gritty of a full review, perhaps it would be fitting to introduce you to the phone and to show you what is included in the box. Aside from the phone itself, you get the standard documentation, installation CD, carrying pouch, wall charger with adapters, headset, USB cable, and a cleaning cloth.

In terms of first impressions, I was initially impressed with the innovative “clicking” touchscreen. The BlackBerry Storm 9530 really offers a unique interface. With most other touchscreen smartphones, a tap is equivalent to a click, even if you don’t really want to click through to an app or a function. The Storm fixes this concern by differentiating between a touch and a click.

As I continued to run the Storm through its paces, however, I quickly discovered that it was clearly not without its shortcomings. The on-screen keyboard resulted in more typos than I would have liked and it was not immediately obvious how I could show and hide the keyboard. I would have preferred a hot key to be available at all times for that purpose.

Expect the full review of the Telus Mobility BlackBerry Storm 9530 to be posted in about a week or so.

The post Video: Unboxing the BlackBerry Storm 9530 from Telus Mobility appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

The solution does not come directly from Research in Motion, unfortunately. Instead, a third-party developer called CellAvant has come up with a free application for the BlackBerry Storm called TalkLock. Its functionality is remarkably straightforward, doing exactly what you’d expect it to do. When you start a voice call, the screen automatically locks up so that you don’t accidentally hit any of the virtual buttons.

To unlock the screen during a phone call, you perform an iPhone-like “slide to unlock” as you can see in the provided screenshot. This helps to prevent any accidental unlocks and any subsequent accidental hangups, conference calls, and speakerphone activations.

Kudos, CellAvant! You can find out more about TalkLock and find out how to download the application to your BlackBerry Storm through the official webpage.

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The BlackBerry Storm dummy phones have started arriving at Verizon Stores across the country and one lucky cat has already had the first hands-on session with Research in Motion’s first touchscreen phone. The overall size is in line with the rest of the BlackBerry line and the metal back is supposed to feel pretty nice to the touch. It’s not as skinny as an iPhone 3G, but it does appear to be reasonably slender.

This all but confirms that Verizon will indeed be getting the BlackBerry Storm and it will be getting it soon. As it stands, people are saying that the Storm will come rumbling through for real starting in the middle of November. Sit tight, folks. Sit tight.

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